London Marathon’s 53,000 participants set new record

More than 53,000 runners completed the 44th London Marathon on Sunday, a record for the event, race organisers said on Monday.

The number is a significant increase from last year’s edition when 43,965 runners finished the race.

There were 54,281 runners who started after 65,725 registered to participate, with Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir setting a women’s-only world record.

The event also set a world record for the biggest annual one-day fundraising event, with more than 67 million pounds ($82 million) having been raised so far, event director Hugh Brasher said.

“The total will continue to grow as many donations come in after the event weekend,” he added.

The race is an annual event that starts in Greenwich Park and finishes on the Mall.

It was a festival affair in the cool April temperatures.

The Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir claimed victory in the women’s race, setting a new world record of two hours 16 minutes, and 16 seconds.

The previous women’s record was set by Mary Keitany in 2017 and stood at two hours, 17 minutes and one second.

In the men’s race, Kenyan Alexander Mutiso Munyao won the men’s race with a time of two hours four minutes and one second.

British pair Emile Cairess and Mahamad Mahamad finished third and fourth, with the former becoming the second-faster British man over the 26.2 miles.

Cairess and Mahamad have both qualified inside the Olympic required time of two hours eight minutes and 10 seconds.

Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair race, while Swiss team mate Catherine Debrunner won the women’s event.

Thousands of other runners competed in the event, including the “Hardest Geezer” Russ Cook who shot to fame after running the length of Africa.

For the 2024 race, a world record 578,000 people entered the ballot for the event, making it the most popular marathon in the world.

With reporting from Reuters